ax_main | Shen and Jeanne-Marie, before the party

Shen and Jeanne-Marie do their makeup, gossip, and then get kinda deep while prepping for the party.

This dress was perfect. It was short, tight, simple, bareback, and easy to put on despite Shen's wings. No need to bend them in odd ways to get them where they needed to be. She just had to hook the clasp on the back of her neck, and there she went.

Shen grinned happily; it wasn't often that dressing was easy, and it was ironic that it would be easier to dress up for a party. She turned back to Jeanne-Marie, on the other side of the room, and asked her, "What do you think?" before giving her a twirl so she could see all of it.

"You look so gorgeous!" Jeanne-Marie clapped her hands together once and held them clasped, admiring her roommate. "It really shows off your back and wings. Where did you find it?"

Jeanne-Marie had finally done some shopping of her own and purchased a short, white dress that flowed prettily and was embroidered with flowers. She wore her hair down over her bare shoulders, curling gently as it fell. Her make-up... was not done. She still wasn't very good at it.

"A mall in Beverly Hills," Shen replied, studying herself in the mirror to make sure you couldn't see any lines from the hotpants she wore underneath the dress. (She had every intention of flying tonight, and zero intention of flashing people.) "Clare and I went, I couldn't find anything in town."

"I had to order mine," Jeanne-Marie admitted. "How did you--oh! Of course. Clarice. How was Beverly Hills? You always see it on TV and it looks so glamorous."

"The mall was great!" Shen stated with a grin. "The rest of it looked good, but we didn't really venture far. That's where we picked up that kid Jubilee. If 'picked up' means 'she snuck through Clarice's portal before she shut it down'."

Jeanne-Marie laid out her new makeup as she asked, "What's she like? When o think of someone from Beverly Hills I think of that Clueless movie." She'd been caught watching it one day. That had been... bad.

Shen laughed. "Oh, no. She's nothing like that. She loves bright colors and talks a mile a minute and she makes fireworks. I mean, that's her mutation. And it suits her."

"Ooh, she sounds cute!" And that was a relief, as Jeanne-Marie didn't think she would enjoy Clueless in real life. Some things were much better in theory than in practice. "Do you know how to do wings on eyeliner?"

Shen paused, and looked over at Jeanne-Marie. "I can probably do it if I look it up?" She'd rather do that than try and do it without guidance.

"Let's!" Jeanne-Marie didn't have a computer of her own, but the Xavier Issue smartphones were more than up to the task. She opened her YouTube app. "Kitty and I found some really good tutorials on things--but I'm so bad at eyeliner. I always think I'll stab myself."

"But you won't think I'll stab you?" Shen asked, grabbing her make-up case from the bathroom to bring it into their bedroom. That thing really wasn't seeing much use these days.

"I trust you more than me." Jeanne-Marie laughed and gestured to her small collection of makeup. "There's this too, if it's any help. I got a liquid liner and a kohl one. I can't use either."

"Which do you prefer?" Shen asked with a smile. "Kohl's more forgiving if it's not perfect, but liquid liner can look so good too!"

"Let's try the wings with the liquid--I think that's how they work--and then if we can't get it we'll move to the kohl?"

"Sure," Shen nodded decisively. "Finding anything on your phone?"

Jeanne-Marie found one of her fave youtubers and held up her phone. "Here! See how you do with it." She sat on the nearest desk chair and closed her eyes.

Shen watched the short tutorial, then nodded and grabbed the eyeliner. "All right! Let's give this a shot." She rolled her stool over and sat on it. "Okay, don't move." Obviously, but it was more of a way to let Jeanne-Marie that she was going to start now than anything else. Shen bit down on her lip in concentration as she did Jeanne-Marie's right eye. "Not bad. Now your left." She repeated the procedure, then leaned back. "Open your eyes?"

It was so stressful to do this for herself, but having someone else manage it was almost relaxing. Jeanne-Marie smiled when she looked in the mirror and nodded happily. "It looks good. What do you think? Which lipstick?"

Shen grinned at Jeanne-Marie's pronouncement. She hadn't been certain about the wing on the left, but if her friend was happy with it, good enough for her! "I don't know, what vibe do you want to give off? Feel free to pick from mine, too," she added, dropping the liner back in Jeanne-Marie's case to pick lipsticks out of hers. She didn't have many, and there was no pink among them - from a lighter red to one that almost verged on purple.

Jeanne-Marie went for the purple one. Then put it back. "I love this, but... no. Not with this dress. I like this very, very red one, though. It's sort of... classic, yes? Which one do you want to wear? You could do anything, with black!"

"This one, I think," Shen picked up the dark red one she tended to favor. "But this one would look awesome on you," she confirmed, tapping the very, very red one with her index. "You've got the perfect coloring for it. And it goes well with the dress."

"Mmm, I like that one too." Jeanne-Marie picked up the one she'd chosen and leaned toward the mirror. "Right, what else do we need to do before we're ready to take this party by storm? I'm so excited! My first party!"

"Perfume?" Shen offered, and held up a small mirror as she went silent long enough to do her lips.

"Yes, good idea!" Jeanne-Marie watched Shen apply her lipstick with interest. Who knew when a new technique could occur. "Is it very different from going out? A party, I mean?" She and Jean-Paul had been to club after club in Montreal, but that was... different. And she'd hardly had anything to wear, and no makeup!

"Depends on where you go out, and what kind of party you want to compare," Shen stated after pressing her lips together. "This is probably gonna be super laid back, we don't actually need to dress up, you know?" She corrected a little smudge with the tip of her finger, then looked back at Jeanne-Marie, happy with the result herself but wanting a second opinion. "All right?"

Jeanne-Marie nodded. All the clubs had been different, too. But this would be nicer, safer, and more comfortable--with all her friends and some new people to meet, too. "You look gorgeous. Really, stunning. And with your wings--you're so easy to look at, Shen."

"And here I was hoping I'd be so wow to look at," Shen stated with a teasing grin at Jeanne-Marie. "You're pretty easy on the eye as well." She picked up some green eyeshadow to dust over her eyelids in a discreet touch. Mascara would be next.

"You are the most wow," Jeanne-Marie assured her, returning the expression. She reached for her own mascara. "So... is there anyone in particular you want to dance with tonight?"

"I don't really do people in particular," Shen stated as she dusted her eyelids with green. "I would definitely be up for an impromptu make-out session with some of them," she added, smiling as she spoke before she sobered up to finish her make-up. "But yeah. I just want to have fun."

"Me too," Jeanne-Marie agreed. "The having fun bit, I mean. I don't know if I do people in particular. I suspect I might. Eventually." Though she had no idea who, just then.

Second eyelid done, Shen smiled and reached for the mascara. "Eventually," she echoed. "Like, when we're thirty."

Mascara! That's what Jeanne-Marie had forgotten! She laughed and grabbed for her own. "I like that way of thinking," she decided. "Though it's new to me. I was raised to think marriage was a must and very important. It keeps us from sin." She scrunched up her face in annoyance, but had to straighten it out again for the mascara.

"Did you ever believe in all that?" Shen asked curiously as she did her lashes.

Jeanne-Marie finished her right lash before responding. "Yes. I don't remember knowing there was anything else." She sighed and started the next lash. "But now I do. I still believe, just not in... that. And some other things."

"Like what?" Shen asked curiously as she closed the mascara. She trusted Jeanne-Marie to tell her if she didn't want to discuss it.

"That birth control is the work of the devil," Jeanne-Marie said. It felt strange in her mouth, and there was always that tiny voice in her that said it was wrong, and she was being tempted and failing... She shook it off, though, and finished her left eye. "That my brother is going to hell."

"I hate that stuff," Shen stated with a disgusted pout.

"Me too. Now." Jeanne-Marie blinked at the mirror, then nodded, satisfied. "There. I think I'm ready!"

Shen almost pursued the topic, but then thought better of it, something in Jeanne-Marie's tone halting her. "Time to go paint the lake red, then!" she stated enthusiastically, putting her make-up away. Apart from the two lipsticks they had used, handing Jeanne-Marie's to her. "In case you need to touch it up at some point."

"Thank you!" Jeanne-Marie tucked it into a small purse, then strung the purse around her neck. "Look look amazing. Let's go?"

"We both do," Shen assured her with a smile, tucking her phone down the side of her dress. She was not taking a purse, and held out her own lipstick hopefully. "Can you keep this one for me?"

Jeanne-Marie opened her purse for Shen to drop it in, then closed it tight. "Let's get painting."